Location: California, United States

Area: 3,081 km2

Established: October 1, 1890

Visitors: 3,242,644(in 2006)

World Heritage Site: 1984

Yosemite National Park is a national park located largely in Mariposa and Toulumne Counties, California, United States. The park covers an 3,081 Square Kilometres. Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, many of whom only spend time in the 18 square Kilometres(including Yosemite Valley). In the park we can see spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. About 89% of the park is designated wilderness. The park has an elevation range from 600 to 4,000 m contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine. There are more than 1300 species of plants, 60 mammals and 220 species of birds. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to from it's relatively gentle western slopes and the steeper eastern slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today. It's about 320 km from San Francisco and it takes 3.5 hours to drive to the park from there and about 6 hours from Los Angeles. The park contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 2,600 km of streams, 1300 km of hiking trails and 560 km of roads. One of the most interesting places to visit is Glacier Point where you can stand on the edge of a 1000 metre drop and watch the second highest waterfall in the world, the Yosemite Waterfall. Another beautiful waterfall is Bridal Veil, so named because of its similarity to the veil a bride wears at her wedding.